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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26984944">Knights, Sword fights, and Whatever Else</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quire/pseuds/Quire'>Quire</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Red White &amp; Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alex and Henry are good parents, Brotherly Love, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Kid Fic, Knights - Freeform, Swordfighting, This is cute I swear</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 22:42:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,693</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26984944</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quire/pseuds/Quire</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Their boy is struggling but, apparently, there's nothing that can't be fixed with sword fights and knighthoods.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>70</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Knights, Sword fights, and Whatever Else</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The decision to get a house upstate was, what Alex believes to be, the best one he and Henry have ever made. He had learned, not too long after they’d had William, that little kids do not do well without a place to run around. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Where are you going, little man?” Alex asks, catching Tommy gently by the wrist. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He grins—a real grin Alex hasn’t seen from him in a while—and points outside to where William is standing with two semi-long sticks. “Will’s gonna teach me how to sword fight!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Does Will even know how to swordfight?” Alex wonders aloud, but Tommy’s already outside. He watches them through the window for a minute. Will throws him the stick and shows him how to swing it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That doesn’t look particularly safe,” Henry comments, looking up from his book and the child in his lap. “Don’t we not want our children swinging sticks at each other?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Normally, yes, Alex would not be happy that his two sons were sword fighting in the backyard. Especially since Will is three years older and a whole lot bigger than Tommy is. But, this isn’t a normal time. Not really. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alex gestures out the window, where both of his sons are grinning ear to ear as they whack their sticks together. “Look how happy he is, Hen.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Henry’s eyes linger on him for a minute, deep blue and thoughtful. Alex knows he’s being studied, and he can see the exact moment Henry comes to his conclusion. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He kisses the top of Maggie’s head and hoists her off his lap. “Come on Magsy, go outside with your brother’s. Papa and I need to talk.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But—” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Henry smiles at her, gently brushing a hand through her curls. “No buts. Go on, darling, we’ll be out in a minute.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She glares at him for a second before slipping out the door. Alex moves to hold it open and calls after her. “Tell your brothers to be careful!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He doesn’t have to tell her not to join them, she won’t anyways. His point is proven when Maggie drifts off to a corner of the yard and starts picking flowers. He smiles. “How did we end up with all of this?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looks down at the beer bottle in his hand, watching the liquid swish gently back and forth. Henry comes up behind him, wrapping his arms around Alex and laying a soft kiss to his hair. He rests his chin on Alex’s head and waits.   </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alex sighs, “I’m worried about him, H.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know, my love.” Henry moves to kiss his cheek. “This break will be good for him. Time away from the city…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What happens when we get back? What then, Henry? We can’t stay here forever.” Alex pulls himself out of his husband's arms, stealing another glance out the window before going to lean against the counter. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Henry moves too, the counter in between them. “Don’t snap at me, Alex. I’m the one who’s been getting up with him in the middle of the night when he can’t sleep. Which is every night, if you’ve forgotten.  I’m just as worried as you are.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry…” He sighs, resting his elbows on the counter. “Shit… I’m sorry. I just… I hate this… and I don’t know what to do.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He lets Henry take his hand from across the counter. “I know, darling. I think, maybe, we should talk about taking him to see someone… later though. For now, let’s join them outside and see to it that they boys don’t kill each other.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alex smiles a little and moves under Henry’s open arm. His husband is right, like always, and Alex knows he shouldn’t have snapped at him. He kisses Henry’s cheek, another form of apology. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’ll deal with it, love. Just like we always have.”  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Outside, the boys are still going at their little swordfight. They both look dirtier than they started and Tommy’s got a few little cuts and scrapes on him, but Alex couldn’t care less. Tommy is smiling and laughing, and somehow okay when his brother whacks him. Will is smiling too, and Alex makes a mental note to thank his eldest child. No matter how many times he insists he’s too old, Will never hesitates to play with his little brother. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Maggie sees they’ve come outside, she runs over and jumps at them. Neither are actually sure who she’s aiming for, but she’s on Henry’s side so he lets go of Alex and catches her. She snuggles into him almost immediately, and it becomes easy to tell who she was aiming for. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You doing good, Maggie?” Alex asks, reaching over and ruffling her hair a little. He smiles when she giggles. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before she can answer, Tommy runs over with his stick. All red face and covered in a fair amount of dirt, he starts talking a mile a minute. He slows down by the end, out of breath and gasping slightly. “Will says I’m a night.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No!” Maggie pipes up before anyone can say anything, and Alex watches as Tommy shrinks in on himself. “Only kings can make knights. You can’t be a knight cause Will’s not a king, right daddy?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alex deeply regrets letting Henry read her that medieval times book. He looks at his husband for his response, hoping against all hope that Henry will go against his royal and historical backgrounds to keep their son happy. Then Henry starts with </span>
  <em>
    <span>technically yes, </span>
  </em>
  <span>and Alex watches the light left in Tommy’s eyes disappear.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’s too busy glaring daggers at his husband to notice to answer or dismiss what Maggie and Henry said. For his part, Henry does look somewhat sheepish, as he realized what he just did. Part of Alex still wants to hit him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Dad’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>in line</span>
  </em>
  <span> to be king.” Will says, coming over to them and placing a hand on Tommy’s shoulder. “Grandma, his mum, </span>
  <em>
    <span>is </span>
  </em>
  <span>Queen. That should mean that he can knight you.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t thi—” Henry starts, but Alex promptly and discreetly elbows him in the ribs.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Henry catches his eyes, and they have a silent conversation. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Make it up to him, Wales. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His husband sighs, and then smiles. “Alright, Alex grab me that pillow. Tommy, hand me your sword.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They set it up so that Tommy is kneeling on a pillow in front of Henry. His smile is back, and neither Alex nor Henry can keep from grinning too. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“For outstanding acts of bravery I, Prince Henry George Edward James Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor,” Henry taps the stick on each of Tommy’s shoulders. “do knight you, Thomas John Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor. You are now a knight.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tommy looks up at them, smiling. He giggles when Henry says “</span>
  <em>
    <span>arise Sir Tommy,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>and insists that Will be knighted too. So, they repeat the process and this time Henry knights their olderst for being the greatest big brother in all the land. Alex wholeheartedly agrees. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After the boys are done, he looks over at Maggie. She’s got her flowers in her hand, and seems slightly annoyed that her bout of wisdom didn’t really mean much. Alex grins at her, “What about you, little miss? Wanna be a knight too?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She glares at him and says, with all the indignation a six year old can muster “I’m a princess! Not a knight.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My apologies, your highness.” Alex gives her a bow, even though he probably shouldn’t. Technically, and by law, his kids are royals; princes and a princess. He and Henry didn’t want them getting used to that though. They wanted their children to just be normal kids. Alex had wanted to make clear to them that they were no better than anyone else in the world, just because they were born in the right family. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maggie huffs again and stalks back off to her little corner to pick more flowers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Will asks if they can go back to dueling and, when they say yes, he grabs Tommy by the arm and drags him back out deeper into the yard. “C’mon Sir Tommy, let’s see what you got.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alex watches them for a moment before moving to sit on the outdoor couch they’ve got. Henry follows him, and Alex leans into his side as they watch their children play. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I still think you have an absurd amount of names, Wales.” He laughs. Henry doesn’t answer though, just stares out at their kids. “Hey, what’s wrong?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Henry turns to look at him. “I think that may have been legally binding.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean,” he starts, “That I do actually have the power to give out knighthoods, and I just—somewhat officially—gave one out to each of our sons.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alex tries, he really does. He bites his lip and turns his face into Henry’s chest to keep from laughing, but it doesn’t work. In seconds, he’s shaking with laughter, tears rolling down his cheeks. The both of them had been the center of an international sex scandal, Alex is sure that two unsanctioned knighthoods does not even come close to that level of collosally bad. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not funny, Alex.” Henry sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “If someone over there finds out about this, and they will because our children have big mouths, I am going to get in trouble.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So we’ll deal with it, just like you said. Knights, sword Fights, and whatever else…” Alex knows that Henry knows what he means by that. He presses a gentle kiss to Henry’s lips. “We’ll deal with it, babe.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Henry nods, and so they sit back and watch their children play. They let them joust and battle fake dragons and rescue Maggie from poorly built towers until it’s bedtime. They go to sleep with the promise of more battles tomorrow and actual wooden swords. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Talks of what to do about Tommy are put on hold, because, for now, their son is smiling and happy. Apparently all it took was a knighthood. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>While laying in bed, his head on Henry’s chest, Alex has one—semi-mortifying—thought. “Wait, if this whole thing is legal, does that mean I have to call my sons ‘sir’ now?” </span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So... this was my first kidfic. It's probably a hot pile of garbage, with absolutely no coherent plot, but I thought it was cute... What's fan fiction for if not self-indulgence. </p>
<p>Also, please do tell me if I misspelled knight anywhere in here... I have learned through writing this that I cannot spell as well as I thought I could! ;) </p>
<p>Thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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